4/30/15 Location: Lexington, KY On this page I will post frequent updates about this amazing trip God has for my father and I! Check back daily to see where God is taking us and how He is working! 5/1/15 Location: Paris, France We landed in Paris at a local time 11:20 am, which is 5:20 EST. Sleeping on a plane is always a good time for someone my height, but I did manage to get some shut eye. Losing six hours throws your body off a little, but we have Starbucks in hand. Life is good. 🙂 We board our flight to Abidjan at 1:50 local time, and about six hours later we will land!

5/1/15

Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Today our traveling ended with us arriving safely in the Ivory Coast! While we definitely arrived safely, it was quite the adventure to get here! When we arrived in Côte d’Ivoire, we waited for an hour to pick up the traveling visas we had already purchased online. When that was finally taken care of, we discovered that all of our luggage ended up staying in Paris instead of accompanying us to Abidjan. While this could be viewed as an annoyance, we are choosing to see it as another part of the adventure. Delta says they will arrive tomorrow, so we will go pick them up from the airport when they arrive. Thankfully, we had toiletries in our carry ons! On the plane ride from Paris, my dad started a conversation with an Ivorian who asked why we were traveling. He explained who were were and why we were traveling, and she seemed intrigued. She asserted that she too loved Jesus because she was a part of the Mormon church. As the conversation unfolded we learned more about her story. By the end of the plane ride, she asked for the information about the local CMA church we were coming to be a part of this week, and she was given a phone number as well. This conversation also happened with a language barrier. Whether she will call or not is anyone’s guess, but I have seen God work in so many lives through simply making myself available to others in the moment. This is what my dad did today, and I praise God for that opportunity! Tomorrow we will rest in the morning, and then get to work!

5/2/15

Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

The View out of our Room

Today has been a great day! We got to sleep in a bit to shake off the jet lag, and then had a delicious breakfast while talking with our hosts. For lunch, the local Christian Missionary Alliance (CMA) missions team, along with the president of FATEAC seminary and his wife, came over to the house of the missionaries we are staying with. We had a traditional meal of foutou (picture below) which is a peanut sauce poured over littl e buns made of potatoes or plantains. Super tasty! After an extended lunch with lots of good conversation, we had a little rest time. For dinner we went to the home of another missionary family and spent time with them. My dad is the pastor care facilitator of this team, so watching him in his element is really fun for me. I’m also learning a lot about how the Alliance functions in Africa, and some great future opportunities for myself and my church! It’s really awesome to see all of this on such an intimate level after knowing of it with some detail for many years. After dinner, we drove to the airport and were able to pick up our luggage! Everything arrived unscathed! Praise God! After a hot shower I’m ready to catch some shut eye. Tomorrow will be filled with church then will begin the retreat for the missions team.

Our Delicious Lunch of Foutou

5/4/15

Location: Grand Bassam, Côte d’Ivoire

Through a series of events that involved (routine) power outages, Sunday expeditions, and traveling, I was unable to post yesterday! Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a CMA church in Abidjan with some missionaries. The church is locally run (as almost every CMA church is) and the service was really good! It is so amazing to see God working and to feel his presence regardless of a language barrier. The music was a mix of more western instruments and Ivorian flair. It was an extremely enjoyable experience. Here’s a fun fact for you: There are more CMA Christians in Côte d’Ivoire (which is the size of New Mexico) than in the entire United States! That is super awesome! Contrary to popular belief, the American Church has a LOT to learn from the Ivorian Church, and we have a lot of resources to share with our Ivorian brothers and sisters! It’s amazing to see people with a culture so different worship a God who is the same no matter what. I am learning so much here that I am so blessed to be able to bring back to the States! Since my last post two days ago, we have transitioned to the next town over. We are staying at a a sort of touristy place on the beach. This section of the trip is to be devoted to the missionaries themselves. Dad and I are helping them put on their team forum, which consists of three days of rest and relaxation mixed with a little business. Dad’s role, well our role, is to provide worship, prayer, and extended devotions/spiritual formation time. To me, it is so important to invest in our international workers in the CMA. While going on short term mission trips to do construction or vacation Bible school has its place, this task is so important and special. Supporting this group of people who have given decades of their lives to the LORD’s work in a foreign country is a great way to make a lasting impression with the few days, respectively, we have here. Sharing life with these people is so very great, in such a sacred way. These are all people with great hearts and a strong vision for God and His people. Learning this aspect of ministry from my dad is humbling and exciting; I am so blessed that my life is following his path. It’s all just awesome. The beach is an obvious plus, too. 🙂 I will put some pictures up later on. 5/8/15 Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire We have returned to the main city from the spiritual retreat for the missionaries. God simply showed up in more ways than I can count! Dad and I were prompted by the Holy Spirit to share our story of his truly redeeming love in our relationship. When dad was sick for so many years, our relationship suffered and shrunk. God healed dad, and is healing our relationship. We were able to share this testimony with the people we were ministering to, and we believe that God will use that to bring hope and redemption to others! After we shared the story, there was an amazing prayer time, and then we got to hear from a couple who was accompanying the team for the week. They live in a different part of Africa and do bookkeeping for all of Africa at the CMA regional office. They were merely along for the ride to get to know the team better, but God truly brought us all together. The wife responded to Dad’s story by saying that she too had childhood trauma and has had one solid migraine/headache for 11 years. Wow. God is truly the master organizer! We were able to pray for them, and her and dad were able to talk for a while about all of it. There are two missionaries who have served in Côte d’Ivoire for 33 years, but will be retiring home to the states this summer. As with any transition, these next few months will be a trying time. We were able to cover them in prayer. God showed up and made the whole retreat filled to the brim with His presence. I can honestly say that every single person walked away different because of those three days. I am so thankful to have been able to serve in this capacity. It is truly humbling to be able to minister to those who have laid down their own prerogatives and ministered to so many in once unfamiliar environments. I assert, though, that I was ministered too by them as well. The beautiful thing about the body of Christ is that when we allow Him to use us, when we bend beneath the weight of His mercy, everyone comes out changed. When we all fall at the foot of the cross God uses us all for His glory, and He wants to share His glory with all of His children! I stand amazed every single day.

5/9/15

Location: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

We have been busy this second part of the week, so I have not had the time to really sit down and give this blog some thought. But here is an update for the past few days. On Thursday we went to the CMA seminary (FATEAC) to attend chapel. Dad was able to share a few words with the students. It was great to worship with people who are and will be leading the African church movement. These students come from a variety of countries and ethnic groups, but all share the joint purpose to glorify God and spread His good news! After chapel we toured the campus and were able to learn some of the needs the seminary had. We are going to pray about how to address these needs. One thing worth noting is that the church in Côte d’Ivoire is extremely strong. They are planting churches with a success rate much higher than that of the States. While they are truly reaching great numbers of people for Him, they lack in many resources. Church planting is hard work, but it is even harder when the necessary resources are nowhere to be found. However, God still works through their willingness against all odds! We as Christians in the States have a great responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. We have so much to learn from them in regards to reaching the lost, and we have a multitude of resources to share with the global church. We are all in this. His kingdom is one kingdom, and we have great opportunities to serve the whole community. These are some preliminary thoughts on this issue, but I have more observations and ideas brewing.

On Friday we were able to sleep in! Woohoo! After getting a little extra shut eye, we went to the last lunch with everyone together at this delicious Lebanese restaurant in downtown Abidjan. On our way back to the house, we stopped by this corporate expo/fair type thing and got to visit a lot of booths of companies that are based in Côte d’Ivoire and other surrounding countries. It was extremely fascinating and a worthy use of time. We also did a little shopping at the market they set up there. There were also two African kings at this expo and we got to see them carried around on their thrones in a great parade. The mix of deep rooted culture and white collar modern business was extremely interesting. Later that evening, one of the leading pastors in the African Independent Church movement came over to the house. We are going to an AIC church on Sunday, and he wanted to meet us. Dad is preaching on Sunday, and I found out last night that I am preaching to the youth. Prayers for that would be greatly appreciated! We will spend a good deal of time with them on Sunday.